Ahern welcomes “very positive” IMC report

 The Government today published the 19th report of the Independent Monitoring Commission.

The report was sought by the Irish and British Governments in order to receive from the IMC a fuller assessment of the completion of the transformation of the IRA.

Commenting on the report’s findings, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr Dermot Ahern TD, said:  "The Government welcomes this report and its conclusions as very positive."

The report states that the IRA Army Council ‘is no longer operational or functional’; that it has ‘completely relinquished the leadership and other structures appropriate to a time of armed conflict’; and that the method used to bring this about has been ‘the standing down of the structures which engaged in the armed campaign.’ 

Minister Ahern stated "this report demonstrates not only that PIRA has gone away, but that it won’t be coming back.  The IMC could not have been more unequivocal in its conclusion that the provisional movement is now irreversibly locked into following the political path."

Noting the report’s assessment of IRA support for the criminal justice system, the Minister continued "I welcome the IMC’s findings of growing public support for the police in areas where this has historically been lacking.  I hope that the political parties in the North can now complete the process of devolution by assuming responsibility for policing and justice powers.  Such a move would be clearly in the interests of the people they serve and, for my part, I look forward to co-operating fully with the new arrangements."

The Minister once again thanked the IMC for its hard work and its continuing contribution to the peace process.

3 September 2008